For Canadian dental clinics
Managed IT Services for Dental Clinics in British Columbia
Most clinics have a backup. Fewer have one that has been test-restored, kept offsite, and locked so ransomware cannot reach it. We check, fix, and prove it for your practice-management database and image archive.
- 81+ Google reviews
- ~15-minute response time
- No contracts, month to month
- Microsoft Partner
Where dental practices tend to get caught
Your practice-management database (Dentrix, ABELDent, Tracker, ClearDent, Power Practice) is usually one server. If it gets encrypted or corrupted, the schedule, charts, and billing all go dark at the same time.
Imaging and radiograph archives often live in a separate system. They are large, so they get left out of the backup. Your college still counts radiographs as part of the record you have to keep.
A lot of backups have never been test-restored. The practice finds out on ransomware day that the Dentrix backup is incomplete or will not restore.
If the server sits in a closet with no offsite, locked copy, a flood, fire, or ransomware can wipe production and the only backup at once.
Worth knowing about dental data in Canada
A few things that come up often with dental clinics. This is general information to help you ask better questions, not a ruling on your situation.
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Myth: storing patient data on US or cloud servers is illegal under PIPEDA
It is not banned. PIPEDA lets you use US or foreign cloud providers and does not require extra consent to send data to a processor across the border. What it asks is that you stay accountable and ensure a comparable level of protection, mostly through your contract with the provider.
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The obligation people miss runs the other way
Because health data is treated as highly sensitive, a ransomware breach can meet PIPEDA's 'real risk of significant harm' test. That can trigger reporting to the Privacy Commissioner, notifying affected patients, and keeping breach records for 24 months. The real question is whether your backup is tested and isolated, and whether you could show you protected the data.
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Retention is set by your college, not by privacy law
In Ontario, RCDSO requires records and radiographs be kept at least 10 years from the last entry, and longer for minors. Nova Scotia guidance points to a similar 10-year period [[verify]]. British Columbia guidance points to a longer period [[verify]]. Periods vary by province, so check your own college's rule.
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Two layers of rules apply at once
Your provincial dental college sets recordkeeping and retention standards. Privacy law (federal PIPEDA, and in some provinces a health-privacy statute like Ontario's PHIPA) governs how the data is protected. A single ransomware event can put you offside both at the same time.
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Which privacy law applies depends on your province
In Ontario, PHIPA governs dentists as health-information custodians. In Alberta, the Health Information Act generally does not cover privately-paid dentists, so private-sector rules apply. Elsewhere, PIPEDA often applies. Confirm what governs your practice before relying on any of this. [[verify]]
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A green checkmark is not a tested restore
A backup job reporting success only tells you it ran. It does not tell you the database is complete or that it will come back. The only way to know is to restore it on purpose, before the day you need it.
Umbrella IT Services is an IT company, not a law firm or compliance advisor. This is general information, not legal or professional advice. Confirm your own obligations with your provincial college and a qualified advisor.
Sources
- OPC: Mandatory reporting of breaches of security safeguards
- OPC: Assess if a breach poses a real risk of significant harm (RROSH tool)
- OPC: Guidelines for processing personal data across borders
- RCDSO: Information on Dental Recordkeeping
- Ontario: Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA)
- IBM: Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024 (Canada figures)
- Nova Scotia Regulator of Dentistry: Recordkeeping Guidelines
What makes us different
We restore your data to prove the backup works
A green checkmark is not proof. We restore your Dentrix or ABELDent database and your image archive to confirm they actually come back, then show you the result.
Offsite and immutable copies
We keep a copy off your premises and lock it so ransomware cannot encrypt or delete it. One bad night should not erase 10 years of records.
Month-to-month, no onboarding fee
No long contracts and no setup charge to get started. If we are not earning the work, you can leave.
11-minute average response time
When an operatory is down you are losing billable chair time. Our average first response is about 11 minutes [[verify]].
Canadian data residency available
For Microsoft 365 we can keep data in Microsoft's Canadian datacentres in Toronto and Quebec City, which helps for sensitive patient records.
Security led by a former IDF security officer
Our security work runs on a written policy program (about 178 policies) led by a former IDF security officer, not improvised each time.
What we do for dental clinics
We start with your practice-management database and your imaging archive, because those are the two things that stop the day if they fail. We confirm both are backed up offsite, locked against ransomware, and tested to restore. If you need to move systems or to Microsoft 365 with Canadian data residency, we run a white-glove migration with a no-downtime guarantee.
- Find every system that holds patient data: Dentrix, ABELDent, Tracker, ClearDent, Power Practice, plus Dexis, Romexis, CDR, Carestream and similar imaging software.
- Confirm the database and image archive both have offsite, immutable copies.
- Run a real test-restore so you know it works before you need it.
- Map your retention against your provincial college's rules so records survive past hardware and software changes.
- Migrate to Microsoft 365 with Canadian data residency if it fits, with a no-downtime guarantee.
Results you can measure
The Dental Backup Reality Check: 5 Questions Before Your Next Server Failure
Start with a backup review
We will look at your practice-management database and image archive, tell you plainly what is covered and what is not, and show you whether a restore would work. No long contract to find out. Email Jake at techtips@umbrellaitservices.ca or call 778-949-4050 [[verify]].